More than 100 taxi drivers that operate at hotels on Saipan are asking Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to ask DFS to reconsider its recent memorandum suspending the program.
Under the commission program, taxi drivers got $2 to $8 from DFS for transporting hotel guest to the shopping center.
In her memorandum dated Sept. 24, DFS Saipan president Marian Aldan-Pierce said they suspended the program until Dec. 31, 2008 because of the severe tourism recession.
She said continuing decline in the island’s economy prompted DFS to “manage its controllable expense closely.”
Pathan M. Abdul, one of the taxi drivers operating at the Pacific Islands Club, said DFS helped them sustained their livelihood in the past years as partners in the transportation business.
“But after the suspension of the program our source of revenue was greatly affected,” Pathan told Variety.
He said he’s at PIC from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. but “it would be a blessing if I can get passenger during that period.”
Pathan has already sent a letter to DFS.
“If you close [the program] we will be jobless. It will be very harmful for our family and business,” Pathan said in his letter to Aldan-Pierce.
They can now barely pay their bank loans and car insurance, he said.
To be “fair” to the taxi drivers, Pathan said the buses of DFS and tour agents at the hotels should be pulled out.
The operation of illegal taxis has aggravated the situation of legitimate taxi drivers, Pathan said, as he urged the government to get rid of these unlicensed taxis, which charge lower rates.
